Roots of Prejudice

Anger may trigger spontaneous, automatic prejudices. Psychologists asked 87 volunteers to write in detail about events from their past which they felt very, sad or emotionally neutral. Participants were subsequently assigned into two groups, color-coded either red or blue. Subjects had words from their written experiences linked to anger, sadness or neutrality flashed at them, followed by pictures of people from both color groups. Volunteers then were asked to quickly categorize fellow participants either positively or negatively. When angered, blue subjects evaluated red coded individuals negatively, but not fellow blue members; the same was true for reds. Sadness and neutrality triggered no bias. The researchers, from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, say that the results could prove significant for professions that require snap decisions, such as law enforcement. The findings appear in the May issue of Psychological Science.

I guess this explains why I hate Eagle Talons...

Good article, interesting info, any links?

It certianly makes sence, infact probably is an old survival mechanism...

Hi JJ!

Very interesting.

It reminded me of a classic study which was filmed and is available on video for equal opportunities training, etc. It's called Eye of the Storm

"In a small all-white Midwestern community, a third grade teacher imposes racial prejudice on her class. She announces that blue-eyed children are superior to brown-eyed children. Film records the frustrations, animosity, and fear that soon pervade the class."

I can't find any further details at the moment but it might help discussion along (and, if you haven't seen the video - and get a chance to - it's very enlightening about prejudice)

EDIT: found this - key word Jane Elliott

www.janeelliott.com...

[Edited on 6-4-2004 by Genya]

Ha, Genya, I actually own that documentry!

Netchicken: I got the article out of the April Scientific American. Don't have any links or anything, but I'll check psychological science's website, if they have one!

Was this the one that started as a classroom experiment on nazisim? Where the class was divided and it slowly grew into a shism between one group and the others?

That too was a famous study, true even, but I forget the dividing criteria.

Then there is the experiment, that was also made into a movie about 2 groups who were divided into prison guards and inmates.... and the atrocities the guards committed on the inmates

And the other study where a subject was ordered to apply an electric shock (fake, but great screaming) to a victim, and the subject would turn it up to "Kill" when told to by a leader....

Humans are but one step away from barbarism....

[Edited on 6-4-2004 by Netchicken]

Originally posted by junglejake
Ha, Genya, I actually own that documentry! ...

OOPS!! How silly of me (but others will appreciate the link anyway I guess??)

Deny prejudice I say! (And it is a very fine study too - especially when Jane reverses the situation and declares that brown-eyed people are superior!!) I once emulated this with a class of my pupils - but that's another story...

Netchicken:

Yes, I've seen the "electric shock" one myself - it goes to show that torturers are not so far removed from "decent folks" - we live (and always have) in "interesting times".

Deny prejudice in all it's forms...

That electric shock one I found really disturbing. I really hope that I wouldn't do the same in that situation, but I guess you really don't know until you're there. Just like combat, so many people are SUPER brave all the way until the metal meets the meat, so to speak. Then they turn into cowards.

Netchicken, any info on the guard inmate study? I haven't heard about that one. And the dividing criteria for the Nazi study was eye color.